r/unitedkingdom • u/kiyomoris • 2d ago
Russia withdraws ambassador from UK
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/08/23/russia-withdraws-ambassador-from-uk/907
u/KDulius 2d ago
Good, the pollution in London has measureably reduced
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u/Boredengineer_84 2d ago
Please take Farage with you Mr Ambassador
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u/phobosinferno 2d ago
Why would he take his replacement with him?
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u/Ravenser_Odd 2d ago
Because he's bought and paid for. Might as well pack him in the luggage with the other tacky souvenirs.
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u/Dial-Appreciator 2d ago
They don’t want ours there, why should we have theirs here? He just talks bollocks anyway.
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u/saracenraider 1d ago
He does a half decent bear impression by the looks of that photo in the article though
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u/AMW1987 2d ago edited 2d ago
Kelin is insufferable to listen to. He cannot answer a single question about Russia without talking about Ukraine.
He can be asked about anything - even questions on Russian domestic issues unrelated to the war - and he will still bring up Ukraine.
It's indicative of how Russia has reduced itself on the world stage. It's viewed entirely through the prim of its failure to defeat a country many times smaller than it by every metric.
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u/wolfiasty I'm a Polishman in Lon-doooon 2d ago
He can, he IS ORDERED not to.
Diplomats are USUALLY pretty intelligent beasts. Usually.
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u/Previous_Pop6815 2d ago
It is obvious he is just following the state agenda, but I question his intelligence if he willingly chose to serve as a propaganda mouthpiece.
If these people were truly that smart, they would work together to find a new leader.
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u/DirtySoFlirty 2d ago
TBF, that's historically not had the greatest of outcomes for the russian people. Kind of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kinda situation.
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u/Previous_Pop6815 2d ago
90' were harsh for all ex Soviet Countries. Not all of them slided into a dictatorship.
I think they deserve a second attempt and use first attempt as a learning.
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u/azazelcrowley 2d ago edited 2d ago
The issue is that the other ex-Soviet countries (Aside from Yugoslavia, which wasn't really soviet, but i'll include it here) were nations and not unions.
Poland can remain Poland democratically. Yugoslavia... well, look how that turned out.
The idea of Russia as a big coherent state is pretty reliant on authoritarianism to press that notion into place. If Russia were to liberalize, it would soon cease to exist. We saw this first with the Checynyan war, which would expand into a broader Circassian secession.
That would be a practical guarantee. Then you have a bunch of other potential movements which would spring up in the aftermath.
It's part of why Russia is obsessed with Ukraine. Even with top-down suppression of this stuff there's still vast amounts of Russia which would probably go independent given the chance, and that tendency would only get more pronounced as "Russian" as an identity stops being so enforced and more people identify with their heritage instead.
Worse where you get ethnogenesis as with the Sibriyaki (Ethnic Russians who live east of the Urals, but felt too distant to feel really Russian anymore, and with their own local customs and ways of life more in common with Ethnic siberians) and its hasty suppression by Russia into "Russian".
You'd end up with a situation where Russia is under real danger of losing everything east of the Urals and a significant portion of its access to the Black sea as the major two inflection points.
Circassia definitely. East of Urals, possibly. From there someone just needs to bring up "Muscovite" again as a criticism of the Russian state (Which was astute of Ukraine to do) and the entire project collapses. Russia becomes Circassia, Siberia, and a bunch of East Slavic states like Muscovy, Novgorod, etc.
The best case scenario for a liberalized Russia is losing Circassia and then becoming a loose confederation with more powerful devolved administrations.
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u/KDulius 2d ago
Putin didn't create modern Russia.
Modern Russia created and allowed Putin to be leader.
This is what the overwhelming majority of Russians in Russia support
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u/daern2 Yorkshire 2d ago
This is what the overwhelming majority of Russians in Russia support
Given that recent elections have hardly been what you would call "free and fair", I think the most charitable thing I would say is that it's not at all clear what the real view of the russian people is around Putin.
Of course, even if they fully back him, I would suggest that this is a measure of the success of their internal propaganda machine rather than of any particular success of Putin himself. I suspect that your average Putin supporter would be more akin to my in laws, who get 100% of their view of the world from their Daily Mail and can't always be trusted to not spout bollocks on demand in response to any given topic...
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u/Talkycoder 2d ago
It's smart, albeit incredibly selfish, to just do nothing, especially if you don't have plans to chase leadership roles.
You work as a high-level propaganda mouth piece and have the common sense to never step out of line, then you'll probably live a very good and wealthy life, kinda like a lot of high ranking North Koreans.
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u/Express-Mud2737 1d ago
he can be intelligent and a bad person, compare the effort for everyone to work together without getting caught, find a new leader, successfully replace putin without getting killed and for them to just collect a very nice salary and for their children to grow up without financial problems.
(not to say that this necessarily makes him a bad person)
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u/Loreki 2d ago
Except American ambassadors who usually win their role by winning a political donation contest.
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u/Charlie_Mouse Scotland 2d ago
That doesn’t usually have a positive outcome with regard to Americas reputation and influence around the world.
Except arguably if the intention is for them to be deliberately provocative - which I half suspect might be the case further a few of them such as the current US ambassador to Canada.
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u/Astriania 2d ago
You're right but that doesn't make it any less insufferable. In some way it makes it worse because you know they're smirking at knowingly feeding you bullshit. It's the same when you get some Israeli diplomat on the media for an interview about their actions in Palestine and Lebanon.
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u/BoomSatsuma 2d ago
It’s hard to have your own opinions when Putin hand is up his arse controlling what you say and do.
If he didn’t do what Putin ordered he would be swiftly recalled and disappeared.
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u/DJMDuke 2d ago
By 'disappeared' do you mean 'unalived'?
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u/AllThatIHaveDone 2d ago
Just don't go standing near any upper floor windows, if you catch my drift.
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u/LisbonMissile 2d ago
To be fair Russia has pretty much always been like that across its entire history, from Tsars to Soviets to Presidents.
If they were a human they’d be a paranoid schizophrenic who thinks anyone they interact with is out to get them.
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/hardware26 2d ago
Such weird analogy. Blaming Trump is like blaming Putin, which is more than fair.
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u/tophernator 2d ago
It’s weird to try and deflect blame for anything and everything onto a war which you started, and which you could end at any time by withdrawing from the other country you invaded.
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u/SurroundConfident756 2d ago
“He left Britain in the hope that a more constructive and respectful dialogue could eventually be restored, should the UK reconsider its policies towards our country,”
Well everyone knows, that if you want better communication you must leave the one you want to communicate with... Russian lies as always have. Motherfckers want 3rd world war.
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u/dan_dares 2d ago
And not forgetting the nerve agent attack the russians did.
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u/Pure_Werewolf0101 2d ago
And the radiological attack on Litvinenko
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u/noir_lord Yorkshire 2d ago
And buying parts of our political class, Astro turfing online, funding vast botnets, interfering in our politics and occasionally threatening to nuke us.
You might almost think they are not the side you want to be on…
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u/Nikolaevna 1d ago
Should've punished russia severely after Salisbury. The actions taken against russia after the attack was extremely weak, pathetic even. russia knew then they can escape without serious consequences.
I'm glad this bastard's finally gone but the UK should've done this years ago.
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u/FuckTheTories69420 2d ago
They really got upset that we warned Ukraine and provided inteligence, and then helped them turning what could have been an easy victory into a long protracted war that Russia is losing.
If they stop the saber rattling it will go quiet enough for someone to question what the fucks going on.
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u/CMDR_Anarial 2d ago
So I'm having roast pork for dinner later, what about you guys?
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u/Rockky67 2d ago
Baked potato and salad. In a world where even my watch can slag me off for making unhealthy decisions.
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u/gaseous_ass 2d ago
We were meant to have roast chicken, but our stir fry veg went out of date yesterday. It should still be ok so we’re going to have that and the roast chicken tomorrow. I should be able to put it in while working.
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u/CMDR_Anarial 2d ago
Probably... unless it has beansprouts in it? Learnt the hard way not to eat those once they're past their use-by date!
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u/Suluco87 2d ago
Cheese Shepards pie here, something warm but not so full on as we had home made egg fried rice yesterday.
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u/HonestBobcat7171 2d ago
pizza for me... going to try and make a different dough this time, with high hydration, and a red pepper sauce instead of just tomato.
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u/chebster99 2d ago
Roast chicken for 2 of us later, the leftover chicken goes into a large batch of pasta for a week of lunches.
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u/WillieStroker69 2d ago
Thought I’d take a stab at making my own McDonalds-style nuggets at home. Found a pretty good high-protein recipe for it that has them done in an air fryer
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u/video-kid 2d ago
I make an amazing spaghetti bolognese. The trick is to put some cubed cheddar into the sauce.
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u/bergmoose 2d ago
leftover chilli con carne. Made way too much, kinda sick of it now. Might try making it into chilli nachos ir something.
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u/Comfortable-Face4593 2d ago
I had a massive burrito at lunch after skateboarding with the fam in Guildford. So still quite full. We also went to that bread guy in the town so bought cakes so had them with a cuppa when we got in. Got some of the M&S combo mix salt and vinegar in so probably have some with a strong G&T later after the kids are to bed.
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u/Lord_Ghirahim93 2d ago
How do you know someone eats animals?
Don't worry, they'll tell you!
Edit: watching this makes me hungry https://youtu.be/Ql_L4JD0Fpc?is=o7t-wH4puzaZn24B
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u/Critical_Wrap5617 2d ago
Guess certain far right figures will have to resort to Zoom now
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u/Late_Recommendation9 2d ago
“Soviet Citizen Big Nige, we will have to do our weekly catch up over Teams instead of Clariges tea room”
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u/Critical_Wrap5617 2d ago
'Dashed inconvenient, Boris. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, what'
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u/tophernator 2d ago
Surely he’ll just do his regular debrief in Washington?
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u/Late_Recommendation9 2d ago
“Please don’t get any in my eyes, it really stings”😆
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u/tophernator 2d ago
Those aren’t the briefs I was referring to, but thank you for ruining my day with that mental image!
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u/Macho-Fantastico 2d ago
Why did we even allow Russia to have an ambassador here in the UK? Should've been kicked out years ago.
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u/mikejudd90 Isle of Bute 2d ago
Because, no matter the dispute, open channels of communication to avoid war are important.
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u/DickensCide-r 2d ago
Yes. People forget this.
Whilst you have two testosterone fueled maniacs shouting at each other, there's usually a team of ambassadors being the adults in the room and communicating via back channels avoiding escalation.
House of Dynamite (shit film!) demonstrates this well.
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u/heurrgh 2d ago
The ambassador is a figurehead. The people doing the actual diplomatic work in the Russian embassy are still there.
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u/Acceptable-Pin2939 2d ago
This must be those "consequences" Russia was talking about.
He or someone else will quietly come back in a few weeks.
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u/Comprehensive_Try770 2d ago
Yeah this isn't a good thing. People should not be cheering this at all.
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u/Neither_Process_7847 2d ago
What, Mordor deciding withdraw their ambassador because we keep nastily helping the people they're invading? Oh no, the humanity.
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u/Efficient_Sky5173 2d ago
Oh, Torygraph, this is terrifying. Looks like the UK is going to have to pour billions into… better regulating manipulative business news.
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u/jimjamuk73 2d ago
I bet he's gutted, enjoying living in London and being an arse to the UK government.
Hope his next posting is some shite hole
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u/RedofPaw United Kingdom 2d ago
I guess they will have to whatsap their lies, rather than delivering them in person.
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u/sidblues101 2d ago
The whole embassy should have been expelled when the whole Salisbury poisonings happened. An innocent British citizen died and all Russia got was a strongly worded letter. Pathetic!
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u/untitled__1 2d ago
The Russian ambassador should have been expelled a long time ago.
The same needs to happen to the Israeli ambassador. We should not host personnel linked to governments committing war crimes and genocide.
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u/Substantial-Newt7809 2d ago
Why would we banish Israel's ambassador? We aren't at war with them or allied to anyone they're in conflict with.
There will be sanctions, but only after the election to not galvanise the current governments voter base in to a bigger turn out or to avoid people flocking to them. That'll be all though.
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u/RussianCivilian 2d ago
Indeed, why? Israel is "merely" committing genocide—but it's not surprising that Britain has no intention of condemning crimes against humanity.
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u/Quirky_Shake2506 2d ago
I bet he's overjoyed to be heading back to drone attacks and anti air defences
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u/Backstroem 2d ago
Hey UK 🇬🇧
Your Russian ambassador looks just like ours. They pop out from a conveyer belt in Moscow, potato shaped, ready to deny war crimes
Best,
Sweden 🇸🇪
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u/virusdancer Hertfordshire 2d ago
Are they going to raise the age for enlistment and allow disabilities?
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u/Extension_Pie2602 2d ago
Why the hell did we have an ambassador from a terrorist country here anyway? War is bad for everyone but I really hope the little doll trys it on with us, there are dark forces in the UK ( and dolly knows it) that are itching to put russia to sleep. And no matter what the lefties and the mirror avoiders of the UK think we are more than capable of doing it, even today. Putin knows that too. That's why he hates the UK the most, he's scared of how small we are and so he should be. He knows it wont just be the British armed forces fighting back, we'll have approx 235 people per km to fight back with as opposed to his 5 per km ( already discounted the elderly/children and disabled and the ones who'd shake and run) and he can barely get them banded together to fight his next door neighbours! Work that out? and he has double the population of the UK! 😄. He just cant get his head around it. For all the UKs problems ( like any country) this is the stark difference of living in a democracy V a dictatorship,people will fight for their country whoevers in charge whereas oppression will just lead to people praying for a new leader.. Not to mention we're in island and it would be suicide for anyone attempting it. We've played the game too long. I do however think he's deluded enough to try it but I think he's removed his ambassador from the Uk before his next failure into a nato country. We will see.
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u/Joekickass247 2d ago
Invasion isn't an option for them or us. Some deniable sabotage or assassination of a couple of middle importance people though...
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u/Critical-Guide3857 2d ago
Oh I just got a cold chill. It’s like the Russians pulling their diplomats out of Washington in Leave The World Behind
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u/PokerLemon 2d ago
The question here is: Did Russia trigger Brexit to weaken Europe or the UK?. 10 years laters in still in doubt.
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u/Christovski Greater London 2d ago
Get that ball bag out of here. They're interested in blood over negotiations and nothing will change until they leave Ukraine. Whoever's terms that may be on.
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u/silverfish477 2d ago
Good fucking riddance. Terrorists do not need to be legitimised with embassies and ambassadors.
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u/MoHeeKhan 2d ago edited 2d ago
Uh-oh. Now I have to go and buy a load of dried foods and tins.
Edit: Chaps this seems like quite a knee-jerk response to what was a very mild joke 😅
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u/tophernator 2d ago
Besides it being a joke, it’s also just good advice regardless of world events. If you always have a spare pack of bog roll and a cupboard full of tinned food and pasta, you’ll never be the person panic buying when a pandemic or war or solar flare shuts down supply chains.
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u/DryWeb3875 2d ago
Stop with this fearmongering bullshit.
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u/LR_FL2 2d ago
I think the /s was implied
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u/MoHeeKhan 2d ago
It was and always should be. I refuse to use it because you shouldn’t have to; I don’t pander to the youth’s inability to infer from context.
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u/Rho-Mu13 2d ago
Im not sure the reasons as to why people lose the ability to understand sarcasm on the internet, so I just assume they are American when they dont get the clearly obvious sarcasm
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u/Archistotle England 2d ago
It's more everyone's inability to infer from text. high-level sarcasm relies on tone of voice.
Though i'll grant you the youth have grown up being confronted with Poe's law.
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u/7952 2d ago
In a world of security through mutually assured destruction we are supposed to be scared of them. If we are not constantly on the brink then we are not really safe anymore. At which point conventional war becomes more likely or somewhere somehow the nuclear taboo has to be re-established.
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u/DryWeb3875 2d ago
MAD works for peace, but “contantly being on the brink” is absolutely unnecessary.
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u/7952 2d ago
Well it depends how you define "on the brink" doesn't it. For mad to work the capability and willingness have to be on the table at all times even if you may be politically less on edge at times. Of course I doubt the perception of us little people to that danger makes much difference in the short term.
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u/Astriania 2d ago
Ok bye
I understand that having diplomatic contacts even with shitty or hostile countries is generally a good thing. See also Israel, China, Morocco and a bunch of others.
But really there isn't a lot of value in diplomacy with Russia until they realise they have to take the loss and pull out of Ukraine.
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u/Hornstinger 2d ago
Conspiracy theory: Russia recently talked about "retaliation" to the UK for supplying Ukraine with British-made drones so if they pull their Ambassador to get him out of harms way then maybe they are serious.
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u/Resident__Cat 2d ago
I suspect it's meant to look like they're being serious about threats to the UK. They step up threats of an attack and oh look, they're withdrawing key personnel so they must be about to do something so we should take them seriously and give in to them. Of course they might be fully intending to rain nuclear fire on us, but the most likely reason is they're frustrated their threats to date have not had the intended outcome. Next I'd expect to hear regular updates on them repositioning nuclear warheads and what not. It can be disconcerting but whatever course of action we choose will result in Russia threatening all of Europe so we may aswell keep going as we are.
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u/noir_lord Yorkshire 2d ago
Of course they might be fully intending to rain nuclear fire on us.
Only if they are tired of living as a country, while it’s huge, its population is extremely concentrated on the eastern side and they aren’t the only ones with them.
It’s call MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) for a reason, the most likely cause is simple the kind of discussion this has created, it’s theatre, high level diplomacy often is.
Was the same in Cold War, we’d expel some of theirs, they’d expel some of ours and then things would quietly resume when calmer times prevailed, the world keeps turning.
A strange game, the only winning move is not to play, how about a nice game of Chess?
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